MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Ryan Boatright never called him cuz. He called him bro.

By blood, Arin Williams was Boatright's cousin. But Williams had lost his own mother to a brain aneurysm when he was born, and Boatright's mother, Tanesha, had taken him in.

"We came out the womb together," Boatright said. "He called my mom, `mom.'... He basically lived with us all my life until I went away to school and even when I went away to school, he was always there with my little brother, Little Mike. He was always there, man."

On Monday, a text came in from another cousin, Jaeh Thomas.Williams had been shot in the back of the head, slain inside a bathroom at La Torta restaurant, a taco spot on the west side of Aurora, Ill., that Boatright used to visit.

Late Thursday, after Boatright and UConn had taken down Memphis 83-73 at the raucous FedEx Forum, he hugged his mother in the stands, the "AW" scribbled in black marker on his left cheek well-faded.

"It was just his initials," Boatright said. "It was just to remind myself why I go so hard with this sport -- to get my family up out of there."

Real life and sports do intersect. Sports can rescue families from desperate situations. They can change lives.

And if that's the peak for an athlete, nights like Thursday, on the road against a ranked team in a pressure situation (by basketball standards), are part of the climb. If you need to help your family in life, you've got to help -- and get help from -- your team.

No, Boatright wasn't the best player on the court Thursday. He admittedly struggled with focus through the week, although it didn't necessarily show versus Memphis. No, he didn't go off for 25, but he didn't do anything reckless, either. NBA scouts will take notice: Boatright has been playing a better floor game these days.

He had a great drive-and-dish to Amida Brimah for a first-half layup, a play that probably wouldn't have happened a year ago. He made a heads-up maneuver with 6:00 left, deflecting the ball off a Memphis player's shoe as he soared out of bounds. He did, of course, hit a corner 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half, cutting Memphis' lead to 40-39.

But Boatright only scored seven points. And entering Thursday, UConn was 3-7 in games that Boatright, a junior, had been held to seven or less. What happened in Memphis was simple. His teammates picked him up, just as they had done all week.

"We just told that we're here for him," UConn's DeAndre Daniels said. "We're his family, his brothers. If he ever needed anything, we're here for him."

Daniels, his roommate, was magnificent Thursday. He set a career-high with 11 rebounds. He racked up eight points in the opening 2:31 of the second half, a furious run that would set the tone for the rest of the night.

And there was a little bit from everyone else. Shabazz Napier dished out phenomenal passes, converted a game-changing stepback jumper, but shot just 1-for-8 from 3-point range. The Huskies picked him up, too.

No UConn player has hit as much on-court adversity as Omar Calhoun, but the sophomore came through in limited minutes, driving strong to the hoop for the layup and drilling a corner 3-pointer early. Lasan Kromah delivered the biggest shot of the night a few times. First, it was a longball with 1:45 remaining in the first half, back when Memphis seemed poised to open a sizable lead. Then it was a pair of buckets on consecutive possessions, giving the Huskies a late 70-63 advantage. They went 6-for-6 from the line to pull the upset.

Everybody in Husky blue was tough on this night, but nobody was tougher than Boatright. He's barely slept since Monday.

Arin Williams was 20 years young when he was gunned down. Two brothers, 18-year-old Dimitri J. Hosey-Green and 19-year-old Jaquan D. Hosey-Green, have reportedly been charged with the murder. A story in the Chicago Daily Herald says the brothers went into the bathroom with Williams under the guise of buying drugs. They allegedly began beating him and attempted to rob him, according to The Daily Herald, before shooting him in the head.

Boatright remembered Williams as "goofy, a guy who could make everyone happy." The cousins used to play basketball together in middle school, with Boatright's dad as the AAU coach, but Boatright said Williams wasn't good enough to play in high school.

One of the few Aurora hoops prodigies to qualify academically for college, Boatright is good enough to make it even further. He's talented enough to help his family.